Class of October 27, 2004: Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway", seminar II
Class of October 27, 2004
LBCL490
Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway", seminar II
Professor Ungar will give a little seminar tomorrow on Joyce & Ulysses. 4h30.
Jackie's presentation.
"shellshock" and war trauma: symptoms and etc...
hysteria
characters in "mrs. dalloway" & relations with environment
Hysteria in V. Woolf life
male hysteria history: long think being a female thing, hysteria means "womb wound"
first accounts: tell of "effeminate men", linked to homosexuality
after WWI: revisiting, since lots of warriors affected by it, renamed "shellshock"
lots of victims not even exposed to fire
common symptom: mutism
"childish", "not worthy of heroism"
still tries to link it to sexual impotency as a reason
ressentmen tward gov. to put them in this situation turned toward the enemy
"restless desire for pleasure"
1929, 100 thousand + people claimed to "shellshock"
Character of septimus, sense of sensibility
incpacity to communicate with his wife
p.149, p.96
difficult time having commited crimes, in his opinion, during the war
V. Woolf history of depressive behaviour
personal writtings reading as characters of septimus... unfinishedness of writtings...
"feminized" qualities of Septimus?
inhumane methods of treatments
fitting into a mold
what is it in a society that cannot contain despair?
outlaw insanity,any kind of sadness must be pathological
agency and responsibility in shellshock
situation of women and soldiers being compared
everyone lost a friend in war = everybody looses something in marriage
"submit", be soldiers, give up your life...
Septimus: sacrifical goat
woolf makes septimus the scapegoat.
septimus at his clearest when he contemplates sucide: makes it wonder if its a sane solution
incapacity to make decision when in crisis
people in depression more likely to kill themselves in period of "clarity": i'm going to go back to this other place, and take decision to stop it. awareness. agency and will to do.
"Othello" part. Othello being a Maure, a foreigner. an infidel.
Sally is Othello expressing her desire for other woman. Identifying to Othello.
p.35
"gift" of throwing parties, not expecting anything back. a religious offering. almost an obligation. Septimus throwing himself through the window seen as giving it. what does he gives? giving back a normality of life to wife? doesn't say. as an attempt to communication. a gift as an act of aggression.
who "takes" his death? the person that respond to his death in a pprofound way is Clarissa (p.184)
physical sensation, physical response, not a device used anywhere else in the book (p.34, female orgasm)
Clarissa knows something she shouldn't know... that he jumps through a window... as if she would have done it.
"can't see the body"... people would die and would not be ssen by widows...
what is appropriate response to death?
inarticulateness of death: "thing"
"there is an embrace in death".
physicality that affects the mentality.
piece of shell floating somewhere in body?
what is a psychological illness. conversion of psychological in physical.
Freud gets called in case of german doctor in court for "inhumane treatments". Freud will not treat shellshock. will talk about the death drive and reality principle coming into play. "beyond the pleasure principle". Trauma and psyche not prepared against it. a leak between your defense asnd the world. repetitive dreams that leads to death drive. conflict b/w what you do and what you dream you do.
Hedonistic : pillar of western society (warrior) fervour religious... people bringing up society and driven by inner insanity... barbarian vision.
book end with peter & clarissa: an ending about a part of someone that comes into being in phased at a part of time where it is to late. Investment in memory. fetish of memory. reminding himself that she is wat he sees, not her past.
LBCL490
Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway", seminar II
Professor Ungar will give a little seminar tomorrow on Joyce & Ulysses. 4h30.
Jackie's presentation.
"shellshock" and war trauma: symptoms and etc...
hysteria
characters in "mrs. dalloway" & relations with environment
Hysteria in V. Woolf life
male hysteria history: long think being a female thing, hysteria means "womb wound"
first accounts: tell of "effeminate men", linked to homosexuality
after WWI: revisiting, since lots of warriors affected by it, renamed "shellshock"
lots of victims not even exposed to fire
common symptom: mutism
"childish", "not worthy of heroism"
still tries to link it to sexual impotency as a reason
ressentmen tward gov. to put them in this situation turned toward the enemy
"restless desire for pleasure"
1929, 100 thousand + people claimed to "shellshock"
Character of septimus, sense of sensibility
incpacity to communicate with his wife
p.149, p.96
difficult time having commited crimes, in his opinion, during the war
V. Woolf history of depressive behaviour
personal writtings reading as characters of septimus... unfinishedness of writtings...
"feminized" qualities of Septimus?
inhumane methods of treatments
fitting into a mold
what is it in a society that cannot contain despair?
outlaw insanity,any kind of sadness must be pathological
agency and responsibility in shellshock
situation of women and soldiers being compared
everyone lost a friend in war = everybody looses something in marriage
"submit", be soldiers, give up your life...
Septimus: sacrifical goat
woolf makes septimus the scapegoat.
septimus at his clearest when he contemplates sucide: makes it wonder if its a sane solution
incapacity to make decision when in crisis
people in depression more likely to kill themselves in period of "clarity": i'm going to go back to this other place, and take decision to stop it. awareness. agency and will to do.
"Othello" part. Othello being a Maure, a foreigner. an infidel.
Sally is Othello expressing her desire for other woman. Identifying to Othello.
p.35
"gift" of throwing parties, not expecting anything back. a religious offering. almost an obligation. Septimus throwing himself through the window seen as giving it. what does he gives? giving back a normality of life to wife? doesn't say. as an attempt to communication. a gift as an act of aggression.
who "takes" his death? the person that respond to his death in a pprofound way is Clarissa (p.184)
physical sensation, physical response, not a device used anywhere else in the book (p.34, female orgasm)
Clarissa knows something she shouldn't know... that he jumps through a window... as if she would have done it.
"can't see the body"... people would die and would not be ssen by widows...
what is appropriate response to death?
inarticulateness of death: "thing"
"there is an embrace in death".
physicality that affects the mentality.
piece of shell floating somewhere in body?
what is a psychological illness. conversion of psychological in physical.
Freud gets called in case of german doctor in court for "inhumane treatments". Freud will not treat shellshock. will talk about the death drive and reality principle coming into play. "beyond the pleasure principle". Trauma and psyche not prepared against it. a leak between your defense asnd the world. repetitive dreams that leads to death drive. conflict b/w what you do and what you dream you do.
Hedonistic : pillar of western society (warrior) fervour religious... people bringing up society and driven by inner insanity... barbarian vision.
book end with peter & clarissa: an ending about a part of someone that comes into being in phased at a part of time where it is to late. Investment in memory. fetish of memory. reminding himself that she is wat he sees, not her past.
posted by Jean-Sébastien Lévesque at 8:26 PM
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